The Pappy Van Winkle Heist That Wasn't (09/14/2018) -- I spoke to the so-called "Bourbon Bandit," who stood accused of the greatest whiskey heist of all time. Turns out there was less to the story than that which was first reported. And more.

Arguments from Authority (08/31/2018) -- My daughter's teacher told her class that she would not trust a sports writer with a political science background. Which . . . yeah, inspired a bit of a reaction on my part.

Gen-Z at the Old Ballgame (08/20/2018) -- Baby Boomers? Gen-X? The Millennials? Pfft. After a night at a baseball game with my kids, I can tell ya, they ain't got NOTHIN' on Gen-Z.

It is not "uncivil" to stand against indecency (06/25/2018) -- Pundits value politeness, but like Joseph Welch before us, we should call out indecency when we see it and demand leaders and institutions which are moral, ethical and just, calls for civility be damned.

Privatizing the V.A. is Obscene (03/30/2018) -- It is the nation's responsibility to wage war. It is likewise the nation's responsibility to care for those it sends to fight, kill, die and be damaged in those wars. Outsourcing that for profit is obscene.

To win elections, appeal to working Americans (03/14/2017) -- Conor Lamb, a Democrat, won an election in a deep red district in Pennsylvania. He did it by not hesitating to appeal to working Americans in a plain and straightforward manner. The approach should be followed by every politician, everywhere.

Great Moments in a Broken City (03/07/2018) -- The real estate market of San Francisco and, increasingly, many of America's largest cities, is utterly broken. That, in turn, has broken the cities themselves.

Weed and Realignment (01/04/2018) -- Nearly two-thirds of the public wants legalized marijuana but politicians do not. How did that happen and what does that mean for American politics?

2017

Make no mistake: this is class warfare (12/02/2017) -- The tax bill passed by the House and Senate is the harbinger of a political realignment, the likes of which we see every 40-50 years in this country, with the new fault line being wealth.

J.D. Vance joins forces with Steve Bannon (10/18/2017) -- The "Hillbilly Elegy" author made himself the darling of both the left and right by claiming to speak for the unrepresented masses of poor middle America. His team-up with the odious, alt-right nationalist editor of Breitbart, however, disqualifies him from being any decent person's spokesman.

Government is Not the Enemy (03/17/2017) -- Ronald Reagan proclaimed government "the problem." Trump and his followers have declared it the enemy. This is madness. The government plays an essential role in our efforts to attain prosperity.

"Glass House" -- The anti-"Hillbilly Elegy" (02/16/2017) -- J.D. Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy" has gotten all of the attention when it comes to the matter of what ails middle America. Brian R. Alexander's "Glass House" is a far, far better diagnosis of the same disease.

Wives, Daughters and a New Dark Age (10/09/2016) -- An enlightened age relies on reason and abstract thought to convey information. A Dark Age relies on personal experience and the telling of tales. Our political discourse reveals us to be in the latter.

Birth Rates are Down. So What? (08/22/2016) -- The U.S. birth rate is at historic lows. The same people who worry most about it, however, have made it their life's work to make bringing babies into this world a challenging and even frightening prospect.

Blackout (3/26/2016) -- Memory and consciousness are no match for the defense mechanisms of the human mind.

Donald Trump, the Overlooked and the Invisible (02/25/2016) -- Trump may have tapped into the legitimate economic anxieties of voters, but he has absolutely no plan to ease them. We should build a movement that will, whatever that means for the status quo.

Baseball and the End of Equality (02/18/2016) -- Our society is becoming a less egalitarian one. Not just financially, but socially as well, with people eschewing interaction with one another and actively avoiding ways to meet in either the figurative or literal public square. Baseball serves as a case study.

Surrender, or We'll Bomb Trieste! (07/20/2015) -- I was once an unwitting Neocon whose warlike instincts scared the living Hell out of John Kasich. But hey, college was a crazy time for a lot of people.​

Dispatches from My Amtrak Writers Residency (06/03/2015-06/11/2015) -- I was one of 24 recipients of the inaugural Amtrak Writers Residency program. I took my trip in June 2015, going from Chicago, out to Seattle, down to Portland and back home again. I was working on another writing project, but I wrote a lot about the trip as well.

Baseball, Bourbon and Bullshit (05/27/2015) -- Part a review of the book "Bourbon Empire," part an essay about how people who like baseball and bourbon are big, big fans of making up silly stories to make things sound more interesting.

Media Companies: Get Adults to Run Your Verticals (04/28/2015) -- Media companies freak out about their writers creating social media controversies and editorial malpractice. Yet, for some reason, they keep hiring kids with no experience or judgment. Funny how that works.